, 1887-07-24
A POPULAR ERROR.
MASSACHUSETTS, sUPERFLUoUs Wo-
MEN WIDOWS, NOT SPINSTERs.

m NOLlOn Exploded Dy y
Careful Statistical Investigation-How
the Dangerous Occupations XIII More
Men Than war-A Painful Case.
The great number of recent railroad disas-
tiers in New England and the facts that have
been made public by the discussion of the re-
Gently enacted employers liability law in
Massachusetts throw new light on the pre-
ponderance of women in this state. An in
Vest1gation of all the facts bearing on this
social phenomenon reveals a tragedy which
may be told in statistics. Who are these sur
plus women2 Unmarried womenl So It has
been supposed, enormously.
1t has been assumed that they were the un-
married; the maidens and spinsters '1eftn in
the struggle for matrimonial prizes, and
therefore presumably not the "fttest." But
an investigation made shows that they are
neither young maidens nor spinsters, but they
We're, not long ago, the ~"fittest," the brightest
OF their sex, who early won the love and sup
port OF brave young fellows, and are now
WIDOWS, 1t takes very few figures to tell this
TACT In the tragedy. The total excess of fe-
males in the state is 1888, and of this mum
Der oo,oO4, or more than IS per cent. are
widows, the total number of widowed men in
the state being 81, 1854 and of widowed women
81, 15S.
IL Is not among women of advanced years,
Vi even uLhong tnoSe In middle life, that the
great excess is found. More than half are
not yet ~, and 29,OO4 are of ages between 20
and 80. They had but tasted of the happi-
ness of wifehood and motherhood when thew
were made "superhous." A great number of
these women are the widows of the men whose
dreadful deaths by a thousand forms of mutt
iation we read of in our newspapers night and
morning-the young wage earners killed in
the dangerous occupations.
Tho ,ar;l, - A.
tale. Since earliest colonial DAYS the coast
population has derived its support mainly
from the sea, and if the down east minister's
salary Is no longer paid in cod and mackerel
by weight or count, it is none the less paid
with cod and mackerel in another way. The
fisherman sees but little of his home. His
quest takes him $50 to 1000 or
more miles from Gloucester. He enters
the little dory, and, casting off from the YES
sci, exposes himself to the full force of the
Atlantic. With the best of luck, his suffer
ings are severe, and it is often that the worst
OF luck overtakes him. Lost in the fog, he
dies In the agOnies of starvation and thirst.
and Last seen on the Georges" is the only
word that gets back to the desolate home at
Gloucester. From 90 to 100 lives a year are
lost from fishing vessels hailing from that
single port of Gloucester. Last year the num-
Der was lis.
ENN ~ NOhIenlIdbtu IN one locality and
occupation, but enormously greater in the
aggregate, is the loss of life in the inland in
dustries. The network of railroads hat
covers the state is the great minotaur. The
average number of fatal accidents to railroad
employees during the ten years, 1875 to 1856.
was Al per year. The average number of
accidents not fatal was 100, and a large pro-
portion of these, it should be remembered,
result ultimately in premature death. The
nVpraDn nItTnhaI. nf
Killed while walking or lying on the track
was 9I.9 per year. An analysis of the latter
number shows that the popular notion that
track walkers are usually drunken men or
tramps Is as mistaken as popular notions in
general The majority of them are laborers.
going to and from work by the railroad
track because it is more direct than the high
way.
The fatalities among men who meet death
whlle actually engaged in the duties of their
calling make up q painful record. Here is
one case from many in my note book. John
Gaylord was a freight brakeman. He was
one OF the boys" but a warm hearted fellow,
with plenty of good sense. Annie Day was n
comedy, aifectionate girl, whose father was
an engineer on the same road. When John
was promoted to n regular post on the plat
form OF q passenger car of n mixed train, and
told that il he kept straight he would be a
N@ooN6S A4SbS Ii u Z IuOnUlS, he SAID he
would keep straight and marry Annie. He
kept his word in both particulars; but the
railroad officers did not keep theirs. John
was still on the platform of his passenger car
when there were three little Gaylords in
Armies neat kitchen. One day John was in
especially good spirits as he started off. and
he looked back and waved his dinner pail to
Annie and the three little faces in the door
way. The next day the train had covered
| fNyn.fhir1G of tho rat,,r,, N;r Il
sounded for brakes. John sprang to his
post. The brakeman on the freight car lust
forward saw the passenger car topple to one
side, saw John straining at the brake, and
turned away his eyes. The passengers
crawled out, not one badly injured, and the
trainmen looked about for John. They
found him under the wreck, his hands clutch
ing the broken ~brake-white, dead.
1t was nearly tea time, and nearly time for
john, when Annie heard the newsboys cry
ing, Last edition-all about the accident,n
afamiliar cry that always filled her with a
dreadful fear. In a moment she had the
paper. In the blur of headlines that swan
Detore her eyes she saw only the words.
John Gaylord, of this city, killed. Annie
is now one of the 'superfiuousn women OF
Massachusetts,.
Now multiply this case of Annie Day by
almost the number of weeks in the year,
change the scenes and incidents in every
case, and you begin to have a dim idea Of
the tragedy of railroad employment in this
one little state SO full of roads. Multiply by
more than the number of days in the year,
and remember the occupations of the fire
man, the miner, the quarryman, the roofer.
the painter, the dyer, the grinder of cutlery
and many more, and you begin to see the
extent OF this suffering and struggle. 1t /
rightly called a tragedy. 1t is no mere yul-
gar melodrama Of sensational accident. II
IS the inevitable consequence of character.
Those manly traits that make actions strong
in defense, impel men also to face danger in
support of their families, and of the extern
sion and development of industry and trade.
Boston Cor. Cleveland Leader.
In Business for Herself.
Drygoods Dealer Ito safeswomanl-I vas